Good Times, an animated reboot of the 1970s Norman Lear comedy, debuts on Netflix April 12. It is about the next generation of the Evans family, living in a housing project on Chicago’s South Side, in the same apartment 17C that the Evans family lived in on the original series.
Each episode will address a theme, whether it’s elections, poverty, women’s empowerment or technology.
Lear died at 101 in December but makes a voice cameo in the eighth episode.
Ranada Shepard is showrunner and executive producer. Hoops star Stephen Curry executive produces with Lear and Seth MacFarlane.
Mike Evans and Eric Montes created the original Good Times, with Lear executive producing. It debuted on CBS in 1974 and ran for six seasons.
“It’s about a Black family that comes together, laughs together, and survives the system on the South Side of Chicago,” said Shepard of the reboot on Netflix’s Tudum site. “What you’ll get from that is a lot of social commentary, a lot of pushing the boundaries, a lot of feel-good television, but also a lot of things that may be in the vein of The Simpsons and South Park and Family Guy. When you’re looking back 10 years later, you’ll be like, ‘They said that on Good Times? Oh my gosh.’”
Lear’s shows include All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.
In the new show, J.B. Smoove and Yvette Nicole Brown voice Reggie and Beverly Evans, the parents. Jay Pharoah voices teen son Junior and Marsai Martin voices their daughter Grey. Slink Johnson and Rashida Olayiwola are also in the voice cast.
Shepard spoke of Lear’s role on the reboot on Tudum. “Norman was completely supportive of me as a showrunner, a creative, a writer, even as a visionary, to take a piece of material that he had produced prior in his career and watch as I took it to another level and pushed the boundaries,” Shepard said. “He showed up for our meetings, our Zooms, our table reads, and made an impact on how we were able to produce this series.”
She added about the program, “It’s about family coming together, laughing together, dancing together, picking on each other, driving each other crazy, all while surviving.”
